To:MAXIM GORKY AND MARIA ANDREYEVA

Published:First published in 1924.

      Sent from Geneva to the Isle of Capri (Italy).

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1974,

      Moscow,Volume 34,

      pages373-374.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:D. MorosPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

January 15, 1908

DearA. M. and M. F.,

Ireceived your express letter today. The idea of dropping in on you on Capri is
delightfully tempting, dash it! You have painted such an attractive picture that
I have definitely made up my mind to come out, and I shall try to bring my wife
with me. Only I am still uncertain about the date; at present I must give all my
attention toProletary, it must beestablishedand work got
going smoothly at all costs. That will take a month or two at least. But it must
be done. By the spring we shall find ourselves drinking the white wine of Capri,
looking at Naples and chatting with you. Incidentally, I have begun to study
Italian and, as a learner, I pounced at once on the address written by Maria
Fyodorovna:expressoinstead ofespresso! Let’s have
that dictionary!

Asfor the shipment ofProletary, you have brought it on your own head
by writing. You won’t be able to wriggle away from us now so easily! A
heap of commissions have to be given straight away to M. F.:

1)Tofind the secretary of the union of steamship employees (there must be
such a union!) serving on steamers that maintain communications with Russia.

2)Tofind out from him where the shipscome fromandgo to,
   andhow often. He must arrangeweekly shipmentsfor us
   without fail. How much will that cost? He must find someone for us who ispunctual(are there punctual men among the Italians?). Will they
   want an address in Russia (in Odessa, say, for delivering the newspapers or
   could small quantities be kepttemporarilywith someItalian innkeeper in Odessa? This isextremely importantfor us.

3)IfM. F. cannot take care of this herself—making all the arrangements,
finding the necessary people, instructing them, checking, etc., let her be
sure to put us in touch with this secretary—we shall then write to him
directly.

Thisthing is urgent. In two or three weeks’ time we hope to publishProletaryhere and it will have to be dispatched at
once[1]

Well—untilwe meet on Capri! Now, A. M., take care of yourself.

Yours,V. Ulyanov

[1]Arrangementsfor deliveringProletaryto Russia through Gorky and
Andreyeva were made in the early months of 1908, but hitches occurred owing
to police interference. In a letter to Morgari, socialist M. P. editor ofAvanti!, Gorky wrote at the beginning of May 1908, that two
parcels containing the newspaperProletaryhad been sequestered in
Genoa and asked for an explanation of this “strange
misunderstanding”. Gorky’s letter was published inAvanti!on
May 5 (18), and on May 25 the newspaper reported that the ban onProletaryhad been lifted.